3 Ways to Plan for the Future Without Getting Overwhelmed
Published by Ryan Healy on May 19th, 2008 in Career Development, Productivity | 6 CommentsI'm a planner. In fact, some people might say I have a problem. I make lists for everything, I plan for everything, and recently, I even found myself making daily lists and plans for both Penelope and Ryan Paugh.
In some ways this can be a problem, like when I stress out about future events that I have no control over. But if you have a grip on it, planning for the future is extremely important and beneficial to your career and to your life. Since coming to terms with my excessive planning nature, I've figured out how to plan effectively for the future without stressing myself out too much. Here's how you can do it, too.
Know your goals and write them down
The first step is to have a basic idea of what you're planning for. What do you want to do? Where do you want to be? This does not mean you should write down your one, three and five year goals. Instead, just write down a few things that you would like to achieve in your lifetime. The other day I glanced at my short list of lifetime goals for the first time in at least six months. It was pretty cool to see that I achieved two of them (starting a company and conquering my fear of public speaking) without consciously thinking about it.
Glancing over the list made me remember some other goals I'm still after, like running a marathon and living in a foreign country. Hopefully in another year I'll be able to knock off another goal or two, but I'm not going to obsess over them anytime soon. If you don't write a few goals down, one of two things will happen. You will either completely forget about them, or, if you're like me, you will stress out about it at the wrong times and fail to accomplish the day-to-day tasks that will eventually get you where you really want to be.
Live in the moment
If you're always thinking about the future, you will never accomplish what needs to be done to achieve your goals. Because I'm such a future oriented person, I have to constantly remind myself to live in the moment, and to do things that keep me focused on that. My favorite thing to focus myself is to go for a run, and when I start getting ahead of myself I repeat the phrase, "Be here now." It's like my own personal mantra that keeps me in the present.
I just started reading the book, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. The book discusses how our attachment to our ego leads to anger and unhappiness. But the main lesson I've taken from the book is to simply be present and to live in the moment. It's not a great book—kind of boring, and a little too philosophical for me—but for whatever reason, every time I read a few pages, my entire body relaxes. I stop thinking about tomorrow's schedule and I stop stressing about hitting milestones.
Whether it's jogging, reading a book, or meditating— figure out what you need to do to relax and live in the moment and your future will fall into place.
Cut your to-do list in half and enjoy your accomplishments
Everyone needs a to-do list. If you don't have a list of what needs to be accomplished during the day it's way too easy to get sidetracked. But everyone should cut his to-do list in half.
It's easy to create a list, accomplish a few things, then add more and more until you become an obsessive, stressed out, productivity machine. But accomplishing task after task for the sake of getting things done does not lead to happiness, and if you really take a good look at your to-do list, I guarantee you can cut it in half and life will go on. In fact, you'll probably accomplish more if you don't sweat the details.
Happiness comes from enjoying whatever it is you are doing and enjoying the things that you accomplish. If you're not happy with what you're doing right now and you can't enjoy your small accomplishments, it's a good indication that when you reach those large goals, it will just be another thing to check off the list. And that's no way to lead a healthy life.
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Leave your thoughts here. (6 responses)
This article´s comments All Employee Evolution commentsTiffany Monhollon
May 20th, 2008 at 11:50 amInteresting post, Ryan. I'm a planner too, so I relate to the writing plans for other people thing. At least my husband appreciates it, usually!
I find it interesting that you put making a goal as a way to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the future. I think, for planners like us, that's great advice. But when I think about all the people I know who don't have that bend, this is actually the most overwhelming part of planning for the future – choosing a goal, commiting it to paper, it's terrifying to people who feel like they are more comfortable with the future being bright, open, unknown. At least, that's the way they appear to feel, from my perspective on the other side. Curious what non-planners think about this tidbit.
How do you overcome the fear of committing to a goal?
Ryan Healy
May 20th, 2008 at 2:10 pmHey Tiffany, thanks for the comment.
Great point. Because I am a planner, when I write a few things down and get them out of my head I become less stressed out. But you may be right that people who are not planners become overstressed when they have to plan.
That's really interesting insight, I'm interested to hear what the non-planners think.
-Ryan
Monica O'Brien
May 20th, 2008 at 10:57 pmWell, I have two things to say.
The first is that I'm probably more of a non-planner and Tiffany's insight is correct. While I have goals, it doesn't help me as much to map everything out in detail. I like having a flexible plan, which to planners probably doesn't seem like a real plan at all. Maybe because I feel like circumstances change too quickly to stick to something long term. Then it stresses me out to have to update my plan, or that I'm not hitting my plan. I'd rather just have an idea of where I'm going and know that it's going to look completely different when I get there anyway. Not sure if this is a good method or not, but it seems to work for me, for the most part.
The second thing is I think you should do the marathon goal next Ryan. Summer is a good time to train, and fall is a good time to run it. Plus there are special programs you can do if you want to do less running and more strength training.
And by the way, I had a goal to run a marathon last year. So I just signed up for the one in October, which forced me to stick to my training all summer. Definitely fits into my planning style!
Danielle
May 21st, 2008 at 11:15 amThis is probably the most relevant thing I've read lately. My friends are all graduating. My co-op is wrapping up (thankfully). And I'm looking forward to doing less this summer. But I'm also starting to get anxious about a real job (ie, one that doesn't have an expiration date). What do I want to do? Am I qualified enough for the jobs I want (and conversely, am I overqualified for the jobs I can get…yes)? Do I want to continue living in Boston (bills are astronomical) or move back to NH (or even farther north.. or south)? Do I want to do marketing, communications, creative development, nonprofit work?
I just seems lately that there are too many questions and no answers. So I'm going to take your advice. Write big life goals – no timelines, no strategy – and see where opportunities arise that bring me closer to them. Oh, and I'm taking a 4 day weekend at my lake.
Ryan Healy
May 21st, 2008 at 11:20 amGlad you liked it, Danielle! I'm taking a 4 day weekend back home too. I'm hoping it just helps me relax a little more. Good luck with the goals.
Monica, I may just have to take your advice on the marathon. It seems a little overwhelming right now though.
Jacqui Buschor
May 21st, 2008 at 11:27 amI, too, am a planner. I like lists and calendars and projects that can be compartmentalized and tackled piece by piece. But I also live in reality (or at least try to).
As much as I love to plan, things always come up. For example, I'm in the end of the quarter crunch right now. By nature, I planned my own deadlines for each of my papers and projects and I felt less overwhelmed. But outside forces beyond my control have totally wrecked my nice, neat timeline.
It's at this point that I usually get stressed – when I plan and my plans fall through. But I think the big key is finding comfort in Plan B. Stuff happens. What now?
In the past, I've allowed myself to get so stressed out about plans changing that I dig myself into a real time crunch, where if I just took a step back and reorganized I would have been fine.
It's all about flexibility.